Operative skin grafting as an outpatient was chosen by the remaining 34 patients.

Of these, four patients were subsequently hospitalized postoperatively (two for pain, one for cellulitis, and one for vomiting).

Results

Hospitalized patients and outpatients were similar in age and extent of burn ; however, those hospitalized underwent skin grafting sooner after injury (2.1 ± 0.4 days for inpatients vs. 11.5 ± 0.8 days for outpatients ; mean ± SEM).